Perchance to Dream
by Ari Moriarty
Summary: Third in the "Dreamgirl" series. Sometimes the best, most honest moments come in the middle of a sleepless night.
1. Lifesaver

**Author's Note: **I haven't slept more than an hour or so in days. I think it's getting worse.

I do plan to take a short break before releasing the sequel to **Dreamgirl**, but in the meantime, here's what I write when I cannot possibly fall asleep.

These stories all take place in **the Dreamgirl** timeline, sometime after the final Christmas scene.

**One: Lifesaver**

"Yukiko?" Chie didn't sound like her usually, chipper self. "Um…I can't sleep."

It was one o'clock in the morning, and Yukiko had been tucked up in bed at the inn for hours. She regularly used the alarm clock on her cell phone to help her get up in the morning and so she rarely, if ever, turned the phone off or even muted the sound. She did not, however, ever answer calls after midnight. Yukiko Amagi, proprietor of the famous Amagi Inn, was a busy woman, with a great deal of work to do each day, and a large number of people were counting o her to be at her best. She couldn't afford to stay up late chatting with anyone.

Anyone that is, except Chie. Chie was her best friend, and subsequently Chie was the exception to every rule.

"What's wrong?" asked Yukiko, doing her best to stifle a yawn with one hand, and fumbling with the other for the switch that operated the bedside lamp. "Chie, it's so late. Are you okay?"

"Um…well, yeah." Yukiko could hear the uncertain sort of frown in Chie's voice. "I mean, I'm fine. It's not a big deal, or anything."

_That's a lie, _decided Yukiko. _Chie's a sound sleeper, and she's a good friend. She cares about whether or not I get enough rest, and I know she worries about me overexerting myself. She wouldn't call me at this hour unless it was about something really important. _

"Um…" Chie took an audible breath. "Hey, Yukiko…do you think maybe I made a mistake?"

Yukiko smiled. "You…may have to be a bit more specific." _Chie has made a lot of mistakes over the years, _she thought, but was careful not to say it out loud. _Actually, that's almost part of her charm. She rushes headlong into everything, always enthusiastic, and sometimes, because she doesn't look first, she messes a bunch of things up. Not that it's her fault, of course That's just her personality. Sometimes I wish I had that kind of confidence. _

"Oh come on, you know what I mean." Now Chie sounded slightly frustrated. "I mean…when I, uh, married Yu. Do you think that was the right choice?"

Yukiko was genuinely surprised. She hadn't been expecting that at all.

"Because, um, it's not like we really know each other that well." The words came rushing out all at once, as though Chie had suddenly decided to open the floodgates. "Sure, we've always been great friends, and we went through that whole crazy murder case together. I mean, we've been dating for almost ten years, but…that doesn't really mean anything, I guess. Other couples live together for ages before they get married, sometimes, and all these other people I know who get married always talk about the great trips they've been on together, or the dumb little things they know about each other, and…and Yu and I sort of don't have that. Is that normal? Like, if someone's really right for you, isn't it supposed to feel, uh, more romantic? Not that I'm big on that romantic stuff, or anything, but...I dunno, maybe it might be nice? I'm not actually sure what I'm trying to say." She laughed one of her nervous, self-deprecating little laughs. "Wait, this is weird, I'm sorry. I can't believe I woke you up just to talk about something like this…"

"Really, it's fine," insisted Yukiko. "I think that it's perfectly natural for you and Yu to feel sort of strange about things. After all, you've been in a long distance relationship for ten years. Since the moment Yu moved back to Inaba, you've been trying to maintain a connection over hundreds of miles. It can't be helped if you're still not used to one another."

For a moment, Chie was silent on the other end of the line. "So, then…you do think it wasn't a good idea," she muttered eventually. "Maybe you're right. Maybe we shouldn't have done this. We're nothing like other couples. We're just-!"

"You're just still learning," Yukiko interrupted gently. "You're just still figuring out how to make your relationship make sense. There's nothing wrong with that. These things are supposed to take time."

"Yeah…and we've been so busy lately, with the whole murder case, and the new personas. It's been like ten years ago all over again!" Chie sighed. "It's like we have to try to cram getting to know each other back into our schedules. I just want him to have some time for me. Sometimes I feel like I'm still sitting on the roof waiting to see if he'll show up to ask me out to lunch, or something. It's not comfortable like marriage is supposed to be. It's just making me all nervous! I can't even get to sleep at night anymore."

_But love, _thought Yukiko, _is supposed to make you nervous. _"You'll have time soon," she assured her friend. "Now that the murders are over, and everything's beginning to settle down, you and Yu-kun will have nothing but time for each other. I'll make sure Yosuke doesn't get too much in the way, all right? So please, don't worry. Everything is going to be fine. I know that the two of you are meant for one another. We've all known that for so long."

"How do you know?" demanded Chie. There was a hint of desperation in her voice. "Seriously, because I have no idea, and I need you to help me out on this one, or I think maybe I'll go insane. How can you tell that we're supposed to be together?"

_Because, _thought Yukiko, _I can see how much you love him. When you love someone, you're willing to let them get their way, and you don't mind putting their needs before yours. Love means not just accepting someone's little silly quirks, but looking forward to them. When you love someone, the things they do that annoy everyone else always make you smile. _

_Love is being there when someone needs you, even if it's one o'clock in the morning and you've had a long day. _

Out loud, she said, "I just know, that's all. I've seen the way he looks at you, and the way you look at him. You're both busy right now, and you're both tired. There's so much going on. There's no doubt, though, that he'd come if you called, no matter when it was or where he was. I've already seen you drop everything for him. Don't worry, Chie. I'm sure that things will start to make more sense, soon. Please, trust me."

For a second, Chie didn't say anything. "Y-yeah," she agreed after a moment, with a new sort of forced confidence in her voice. "Of course I trust you. Yeah, I'm sure you're right. Things are gonna start getting easier, now."

"Definitely." Yukiko smiled.

"Jeez, I don't know what I'd have done if you hadn't picked up the phone," muttered Chie. "I've been lying in bed just thinking the same stuff over and over in my head. I think maybe I would have driven myself crazy. You're a lifesaver. Um…thanks, Yukiko. I mean it."

"You're welcome," Yukiko assured her. "Now, stop worrying so much and get some sleep."

"Night," mumbled Chie.

"Goodnight." Yukiko was still smiling as she listened to Chie hang up the phone. Then she replaced the phone on the bedside table, climbed back into bed, and switched off the light.

After a moment's consideration, however, she reached out, retrieved the phone, and tucked it underneath her pillow, just in case.


	2. Watching Paint Dry

**Author's Note: **Today has been a very disappointing day. I had to fire someone. I wish I hadn't.

I wrote most of this last night at two AM, and finished it this morning to try and cheer myself up. Not a terrifically cheery piece, though. Maybe I'll write something else.

**Two: Watching Paint Dry**

It was two o'clock in the morning, and recently relocated detective Cho Yanase was trying to paint the ceiling of her new living room.

She had a bucket of white paint in one hand, and she was desperately trying to reach the ceiling with a paintbrush she held in the other hand. She was balancing precariously on the topmost rung of a ladder that kept wobbling under her unsteady feet, and she had to will herself over and over again not to look down.

Unfortunately, all the willpower and determination in the world couldn't make Cho any taller. _I just need one more inch, _she thought miserably, venturing up on to her tiptoes and stretching as far as she could. _Almost…there…_

The ladder swayed. It teetered. With one frantic movement, Cho made a grab for the wall and braced herself against it, knocking a picture frame off of its hook and sending it crashing to the floor below. She just barely managed to hold on to the paint can, but she did have to drop the paintbrush, which landed almost directly on top of the frame, splattering it, the photo it contained, and several surrounding floor panels with white paint.

Cho took a deep breath and waited for her heartbeat to slow down. She did not like heights, and she never had.

Good policemen, though, as Cho well knew, were not afraid of heights. As far as Cho was concerned, good policemen were not consciously or openly afraid of anything.

As Cho began to climb down the ladder to retrieve her paintbrush, she heard footsteps on the basement stairs.

"Jeez," muttered Adachi, appearing shirtless and bleary-eyed in the stairwell. "Do you have any idea what time it is? What are you even doing up here? It's noisy as hell."

Cho did her best to ignore him. Instead she bent down, picked up the paintbrush, grimaced at the mess on the floor, and then returned to the ladder. Adachi, too, was now frowning at the paint splatters on the flooring.

"So, uh, painting in the middle of the night. This is one of those hysterical stress-relief things, right?" he asked, as Cho climbed the ladder. "You know, like how women always clean shit to help them calm down?"

_Sexist, _thought Cho angrily, her cheeks heating up. Furiously, with renewed determination, she placed one foot on the top rung of the ladder, and began reaching again with her paintbrush, refusing to even make eye contact with Adachi.

"Uh, yikes." She could hear the wince in Adachi's voice. "Hey, listen, if you're gonna be hysterical, you think maybe you could do it in the morning, instead? I'm beat, and it's hard enough to get any sleep without you throwing stuff and making a ton of noise. Every time I close my eyes, I hear something crash or bang. It's really not working for me."

_And I really don't care, _thought Cho. _You can stay awake all night, as far as I'm concerned. I'm not interested in whether or not you manage to get your beauty sleep. _

Unfortunately, that wasn't entirely true. Actually, Cho was really quite embarrassed at what a mess she was making of this. She'd much rather have let Adachi sleep than have him awake and watching her while she fumbled with her tools.

"I'll be done soon," she muttered, forcing herself not to apologize to a man whom she was sure she shouldn't feel accountable to.

"Yeah?" Adachi didn't sound convinced. "Really? Because, uh, I don't see you getting any closer to that ceiling any time soon, unless you want me to go and find you a phone book to stand on, or something. And just for the record, if you come falling off of that thing, don't expect me to catch you."

Cho snorted out a laugh. "Don't worry," she informed him under her breath. "I won't."

Adachi rolled his eyes. "Oh, so you snort when you laugh, huh? Real cute," he muttered sarcastically.

"I know," sighed Cho. "I've been told." Even some of the officers and desk jockeys at the station made fun of Cho's unattractive, unladylike laugh. She tried not to let their teasing bother her, but every now and then, it did. It bothered her right now, at two o'clock in the morning when she was exhausted and unprepared for verbal sparring of any kind. She knew she had no reason to care one way or another what Adachi thought of her, but she was human, she was sensitive, and she was disappointed. Of course, she would have died before letting Adachi know that.

"Oh, so I guess you get that a lot? Am I supposed to feel bad for you, or something?" Adachi yawned audibly.

Perhaps more aggressive in her frustration than she would otherwise have been, Cho struck out again for the ceiling, missed again, reached for the wall, and this time knocked a flowerpot off of the nearby mantelpiece. The flowerpot plummeted to the floor and shattered at Adachi's feet. He sighed.

"Look," he muttered. "Tell you what; I'll make you a deal. You get down off that ladder and stop breaking shit, and I'll go up and finish the damn ceiling. After we're done here, you go the fuck to sleep and stop making so much noise. It's a win-win. The ceiling gets painted, and I don't have to try to tune this crap out all night. Deal?"

Cho gazed unhappily at the ceiling. It was still just out of her reach, and now one of her flowerpots was broken, the plant inside it probably permanently destroyed.

_I'm not giving in, _she told herself. _I'm just making him do the work for me. That's delegation. No, it's not even delegation. It's no different than a prisoner performing community service to atone for his crimes. This is um, community service. I really want to get down from here. _

"Yes. Fine." Gratefully, but as nonchalantly as possible under the circumstances, Cho climbed down from the ladder, depositing the bucket and brush at Adachi's feet. He picked them up, gave them each a disdainful look, and then stepped on to the ladder. Once at the top, he reached up, and began haphazardly slapping paint on the ceiling.

"You'll make a mess if you do it like that," admonished Cho. "It takes careful, precise brushstrokes to cover the entire ceiling evenly."

"Beggars can't be choosers," retorted Adachi. The ladder wobbled, and Adachi teetered for a moment. Before Cho knew she was doing it, she had both of her hands outstretched, prepared to catch him if he fell. As soon as realization dawned, Cho pulled both arms back down to her sides and tried scowling, but Adachi had already seen her first reaction. He was grinning lopsidedly now as he painted.

"Oh, good," he muttered snarkily. "Yeah, that makes me feel a lot better. Good to know you've got my back, Detective."

Cho said nothing. She seethed silently.

"Hey," he suggested. "If I gotta do this, then you should make yourself useful. Uh, go grab a couple of mugs from the kitchen and make us some coffee, or something. At least that way I won't pass out from exhaustion up here."

Cho stared at him. "Did you…actually just tell me to get into the kitchen?"

"Uh…yeah." Adachi glanced down at her. "Why, you got a coffee maker hidden somewhere else in this house?"

_Sexist, and chauvinistic._ Cho's blood was beginning to boil with the fires of long-suffering righteous indignation. It wasn't, of course, that coffee was a bad idea. What bothered here was the suggestion that she, a woman, belonged in the kitchen while Adachi, a man, belonged on the ladder. _I should be doing this myself, _she thought miserably. _I should have…well, gotten a phone book to stand on, actually. _

Adachi sighed. "Oh come on. What's that look for? Sheesh. I didn't even mean it like that. Not that, uh, you've got much a case or anything. Try that feminism shit out on me when you're actually doing a good job at something. Am I right?"

Cho glared daggers at the back of his head. She imagined his head exploding, which was pleasant but slightly alarming.

"How the hell do you survive in the police force with an attitude like that?" Adachi went on. "I figure the guys at the police station make cracks about you being a girl all the time."

"I'm not the only woman on the force," Cho reminded him. "And besides, Dojima-san doesn't let any of the other officers speak to any of us like that."

"Oh, right. Dojima-san." Again, Adachi rolled his eyes. "God's gift to Inaba's women, right? Yeah that's…that may be the weirdest thing I've ever said. Actually, I think I just creeped myself out a little."

_I don't care if you did, _thought Cho. _He's the exact opposite of everything that you are. I wouldn't expect you to appreciate him, or to understand. _

"The guy's usually such a hard-ass," Adachi rambled on, carefully shifting is weight to try and sidle over a bit closer to the spot he was working on. "He gives everybody a hard time. He doesn't cut anybody any slack. If he's being nice to you, he's probably already figured out that you aren't good for much, and that it's not worth wasting his time bellowing at you."

_Of course, _thought Cho, _you would say that. _"Dojima-san resents you for the crimes you committed," she reminded Adachi. "You betrayed him and his family. It's only natural that he would treat you harshly. You brought that on yourself."

"Oh yeah?" Abandoning the paint job for a moment, Adachi bit his lip and shook his head. "Is that what you think? Man, you barely even know the guy and already you're acting like he can do no wrong. Let me tell you something, Detective. Ryotaro Dojima's a mean-ass son of a bitch who treats people like dirt. He started pushing me around and acting like an overbearing big-shot pretty much the second they assigned me to his team. He had the balls to go around calling me his 'partner,' and then he'd shout at me for not bringing his damn coffee fast enough. Never occurred to him to even try treating me like another human being. Nah, I was just his gopher. I just had to put up with his irrational ragey shit whenever he woke up on the wrong side of the bed or ate a bad piece of sushi. Trust me; your precious Dojima-san's just as much of a pain in the ass as I ever was. He's just nice to you because you're new, because you're young, and, oh yeah, because you're a chick, and whatever sad sack raised him to think he owned the known fucking universe at least raised him to be extra nice to girls. You got that?"

"That's not true." Cho was having a hard time holding on to her composure. She could hear her voice getting louder as she tried to drown out the ugly things that Adachi was saying about her partner. "I won't listen to you talk about him like that. You were lazy, and you were shiftless. You were cruel, cowardly, and weak. Everyone knows that about you. That's why you and Dojima-san couldn't get along. He couldn't possibly work with someone like you, and I can't blame him for that."

"Heh. You weren't there." Adachi shook his head. "What the hell do you know about it?"

Cho opened her mouth to tell him that she'd heard plenty about his case ever since she'd moved to Inaba, but she stopped as Adachi's eyes suddenly went wide, and for a moment he froze, then sighed and shook his head.

"Crap," he mumbled. "Now Nanako's awake."

"What?" Cho blinked." How do you-? Oh."

"Uh…jeez." Adachi was rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably. "Guess maybe I got a little carried away, there. I mean, there's no way she'd like hearing me talk about her dad like that. Me and my big mouth."

"I'm sure she dislikes a number of the things she hears you say," murmured Cho. "I can only imagine."

"Yeah? Then imagine, and keep it to your damn self," Adachi snapped, shaking his head. "You seriously don't know me, so stop acting like you do. It's really starting to piss me off."

_But I do know you, _Cho wanted to say. _I was determined to catch you, so I've read all the files, and I've read all the reports. I have documented evidence of everything you've said and done for at least ten years. I know who you were dating at the time of the murders. I know your parents' names, where they live, and what organizations they retired from. There's very little about you, in fact, that I don't know. I made a point of knowing. _

There was a hesitant little tap at the front door, and Adachi scrambled down from the ladder to answer it. When he pulled the door open, Nanako was standing outside in a set of fuzzy pink pajama pants and a little shirt with a penguin on it. She still looked half-asleep.

"Um…Adachi-san? Are you okay?" She stifled a yawn with one hand and shivered a little in the winter air. "What's wrong? Why are you so angry?"

Adachi shot an exasperated look over his shoulder at Cho, who stared at him in stunned silence.

_Wait, why is he angry at ME? How is this my fault? _

"Nah, it's nothing. We're fine. Just, you know, some late-night home renovation among friends." Adachi didn't try too hard to keep the sarcasm out of his voice, and Nanako raised an eyebrow at him.

"My Dad is a good dad," she told him firmly, "even if he's scary sometimes, and even if he can be hard on people. He only does it because he 'wants them to succeed,' I think. Um, that's what he says, anyway, and I think I get it. He says that it's hard watching people you care about 'not reach their full potential.'"

Adachi shrugged. "Yeah, I know, sure. Sorry. Uh, didn't mean to wake you up. Look, its butt-fuck o'clock right now, okay? You should be asleep."

"So should you," returned Nanako.

"Uh, well, yeah," Adachi agreed, "but, you see, I don't have school in the morning. Paid my dues a long time ago. Come on. We're talking a walk."

O-okay," began Nanako, yawning hugely again. Her face scrunched up a bit when she yawned, and Cho was startled for a moment to see Adachi smile at Nanako with something like genuinely gentle amusement instead of malice in his eyes. He pulled his coat off the hook, took Nanako by the arm and dragged her out of the house, letting the door shut behind him.

For a long time, Cho stood there, absently contemplating the paint splatters on the floor. She wasn't actually sure what she'd need to clean them up. After a while, she gave up on the paint splatters and wandered into the kitchen.

When Adachi got back, Cho was waiting for him.

"Kid tried to talk my ear off instead of going back to sleep," he muttered. "Can you believe Dojima-san didn't even notice that she'd snuck out in the middle of the night? Yeah, he's sure a 'great dad' alright…or not. Then again, I got away with that shit too all the time when I was a kid. Guess my parents weren't so great either."

Cho, sitting on the floor next to the ladder, held out a steaming cup.

"Huh?" Adachi frowned. "What's that?"

"It's coffee," she told him. "I made it."

Adachi , surprised, stared at the coffee. "Uh…really? Thanks, I guess." He took the cup, gazed at it thoughtfully for a moment, then shrugged and sat down on the floor next to Cho.

"You're still painting the ceiling," she said.

Adachi nodded resignedly."Figures."


	3. Curfew

**Author's Note: **Technically I think this is cheating since I did not write this at 3 AM. I wrote it just now, at 10:11 PM, but I'm going to post it anyway.

**Three: Curfew**

It was three AM, and as a pink-cheeked girl she didn't know passed out cold on the couch right in front of her, Nanako tried not to panic.

_Eek, _thought Nanako desperately. _Dad is going to KILL ME._

She'd been hesitantly excited when Hira Iwasaki from her homeroom class had invited her to a party that evening. The party was apparently in honor of Hira's birthday, and so Nanako had spent one whole careful hour after school looking at jewelry and costume trinkets, trying to figure out what Hira might like for a present.

The trouble was, of course, that Nanako barely knew Hira. They'd only spoken a few times since Hira had transferred into Nanako's class at the beginning of that year. She seemed to Nanako like a really nice girl, and she had somehow made a lot of friends very quickly. She was popular with boys and girls alike, and she wasn't rude to Nanako in the hallway or loud and disrespectful in class like so many of the other popular girls.

The party itself, however, had not exactly been what Nanako usually thought of as a birthday party.

For one thing, Hira-san's parents were out of town on a business trip, leaving her alone in the house. When Nanako first arrived, there had only been a few girls at the house, and they'd been happy enough to see her. After an hour or so, however, the boys had started arriving. The boys had brought sake and other kinds of booze, and before Nanako knew what was happening the party had turned from a relaxed little get together with birthday cake to a wild, co-ed romp, complete with drinking games and several people full-on making out in various corners of the house.

The party wasn't very large. Altogether, there were maybe only ten or twelve people there. It wasn't a loud party, either. It was a quietly disturbing drunken mistake full of people losing their clothes and passing out on the furniture. Nanako was worried that some of these people were going to get seriously sick or hurt. She'd heard about that kind of thing happening from the other girls at school, had seen it in television programs, and had been warned about it by her dad, occasionally, but she'd never actually witnessed it happening to anyone she knew. Watching someone black out or get violently ill from alcohol abuse was much scarier, she decided, in person.

Nanako knew, of course, that she should call the police. The police would come, break up the party, and take anyone who needed it to the hospital. In that case, everything would be all right.

She wasn't actually worried about what the act of calling the police would do to her popularity. Nanako wasn't particularly popular at school to begin with, and she knew that she'd feel ten times worse about doing nothing and watching people hurt themselves than she would about blowing the whistle and getting a few girls in trouble with their parents.

_But, _thought Nanako, _Dad is gonna KILL ME. _

Nanako knew that if she called the police, and that if the police arrived to break up this party there was a very good chance that Dad would show up and find her here. She wasn't even supposed to be out after ten o'clock in the first place, but since Dad had committed to working all night at the station, Nanako had figured that she probably wouldn't be missed. If he came out and found her here, not just after curfew but surrounded by alcohol and sex, she didn't want to think about how furious with her he'd be.

_He'd probably never trust me to go out at night again, _she realized. _And…and he wouldn't be wrong. I really shouldn't have come to this party, or maybe I should have told him where I was going, and then gone home before ten like I was supposed to! What am I going to do now?_

At midnight, Nanako really wanted to go home. She tried as hard as she could to reach Adachi, but for whatever reason she couldn't connect with his consciousness. Visions of firing guns and violent splatters of thick white paint kept drifting through her mind, and after a while she realized that those images must belong to Adachi's dreams. He was asleep, and no amount of begging, pleading, and thinking as hard as she could seemed to be able to wake him up.

At one o'clock, she tried calling Yu, but his phone didn't pick up. _He probably thinks I'm asleep in bed, _she thought, _and since the murder case is over, he isn't being careful about checking his messages anymore._

At two o'clock, she tried calling Cho Yanase, which was an extremely risky move considering that Cho was Dad's partner and might tell him everything. Still, Cho did live right near the house, and Nanako thought she could probably convince Cho to keep this whole episode to herself if only she'd believe that Nanako had wanted nothing to do with any of the illegal stuff at this party.

Unfortunately, Cho didn't pick up either. She, like the rest of them, was probably asleep after a long, hard day of work.

Nanako was out of other options. She took a deep breath, steeled herself for a difficult conversation, and called Yosuke.

"Uh…hello?" Yosuke sounded confused and half-asleep when he picked up the phone on the fourth ring.

"Yosuke?" Nanako tried not to let him hear how close she was to tears. "Um…were you sleeping?"

There was silence on the other end of the line for a second. "Well, actually, yeah. Wait, is this Nanako-chan? What's going on? It's three o'clock in the morning. Why are you-?"

"Yosuke, um, please don't get angry at me." The tears started flooding out as she rambled frantically into the phone. "Uh, I'm at this party at Hira-san's house, and everyone here is kind of drunk, and some of them are passed out or really sick, and I want to go home but I can't just leave because I'm worried that something bad is going to happen to some people here if I don't get them help. Um…I'm sorry." She sniffled audibly. "Can you come? Please? I'm so sorry. I know it's not fair, but-!"

"No, it's cool, I'm coming," muttered Yosuke. Nanako thought she heard him moving around on his end. "Gotta find my jacket. Wait, where are you, anyway? Can you give me an address?"

Gratefully, Nanako told Yosuke the address before hanging up. She went and stood outside on the lawn to wait for him, and it wasn't long before his car pulled up.

"Hey," he mumbled. "You okay?"

"Uh huh." Nanako stared at her shoes. "I'm…I'm fine. But, Hira-san-!"

"Yeah, I know." Yosuke was already on his phone. "I'm calling the police. They'll come take care of your friends. No sweat. Everything's, uh, gonna be okay."

"But, I…I don't want to see Dad," whispered Nanako miserably. "He'll be so angry with me, and if the police come, then…" She trailed off, looking helplessly at Yosuke. Yosuke eyes widened.

"Wait, you-? Ohhh, I get it. Huh, yeah, I guess Dojima-san would be pretty pissed off about this one. He doesn't know you're out this late, does he?"

Nanako shook her head. "N-no…"

"Right. Okay." Yosuke sighed. "Well, get in the car. We'll call the police from the road, I guess. By the time they get here, you'll be long gone. But, seriously, Nanako-chan, what the hell were you thinking? This…this isn't like you. I mean not that you have to be a saint all the time, or anything, but skipping curfew? Lying to your dad? Drinking? What the hell is going on here?"

"I.." Nanako had nothing to say. Tears dripped on to her shoes, and onto the surrounding pavement. "I'm sorry, Yosuke."

"Uh, well…come on, just get in. Let's get out of here," Yosuke mumbled, pulling open the passenger door.

After Yosuke called the police and directed them towards the party, he and Nanako sat for a few awkward minutes in silence.

"A-are you gonna tell Big Bro?" hazarded Nanako eventually, when the uncomfortable stillness became too much for her.

Yosuke shook his head. "Nope. But you are."

"Me? But he'll be-!" began Nanako quickly. Yosuke held up a hand to cut her off.

"He'll be pissed as hell. Definitely. He does a pretty good impression of Dojima-san in a bad mood. He'll probably end up saying something like 'Really, Nanako-chan, I expected a lot more from you. I'm really disappointed,' or something like that."

Panicked as she was, Nanako still couldn't help giggling over the silly, overblown way that Yosuke imitated Yu's voice. She grinned at him, and then felt stupid about it when Yosuke raised an eyebrow at her.

"And…what about Dad?" asked Nanako, steeling herself for the blow. "Do I have to tell him? Or, are you going to tell him?"

"That? Nah." Yosuke shook his head. "I feel like that'd be overkill, maybe? Yu will probably give you a hard enough time for one night. No reason to get your Dad involved. But, hey, seriously, if I get another call from you in the middle of the night like this, I am totally going straight to Dojima-san. This whole 'just between you and me' thing is a onetime only offer, understand? Nobody wants to see you get hurt, Nanako-chan. Hell, we've watched you almost die twice. There's no way any of us are letting you start drinking and acting like a little punk. It's not happening. Not a chance. So…"

Nanako nodded. "I promise. I…I won't do it again. I mean it. Don't worry."

"Yeah? Okay. Well, that's that, then," muttered Yosuke, as they pulled up outside of the Dojima residence. "Go get whatever sleep you still can. I gotta go, I got work in the morning."

After climbing out of the car, Nanako turned around and gave Yosuke her best attempt a grateful smile. "Thank you," she whispered. "I don't know what I'd have done if you didn't come. I was really scared."

"Good." Yosuke shrugged. "Scared is good. Uh…I think. Yeah, guess I'm not so great at this discipline thing, maybe, but I think scared is how you're supposed to feel when you screw up like that. Anyway." He waved that away. "See you soon, Nanako-chan. 'Night."

Just as Nanako was turning away, and Yosuke was preparing to close the car door, he paused and called out to her.

"Uh, hang on a second. That thing I said about how I'd tell your Dad if you called me again?"

"Yes?" asked Nanako, stopping on the threshold of the house.

"You should still call me. Like, if you get into trouble. Not saying I won't call your dad, but…call me anyway. You know. If you need me. It's not like I wouldn't show up, you know?"

He gave her one last sleepy wave, then closed the door and started driving off down the street. Nanako watched him, full of complicated emotions but relieved beyond belief to have gotten out of that place.

_Yosuke's a good friend, _she thought sadly. _He's good to me, and he's good to Big Bro. He's always been there for us…for both of us. I haven't been very nice to him, lately. I wish it hadn't hurt him so much when we brought Adachi-san back. I wish we didn't have to disagree like that. I wish…_

A little voice in the back of Nanako's mind interrupted her inner monologue abruptly.

_And my curfew, _she thought, _is way too early, anyway. I'm seventeen years old! Everyone else gets to stay out until midnight. How come I have to come so early? I'm not a little kid anymore. _

Genuinely confused as to whether that last thought had come from her part of the soul or Adachi's part, Nanako gave up on thinking and climbed the staircase to her room.


	4. Aquaintance

**Author's Note: **Happy New Year, everyone! As of today, I have officially been reading and writing on this site for one whole year! Yeah, weird, right? I joined on New Year's Day last year, apparently.

I hope you all have the most wonderful, enthralling and fulfilling year, with success in whatever you choose to do.

WARNING: There is even more bad/offensive language than usual in this one.

**Four: Acquaintance**

"This sucks," muttered Adachi bitterly. "Seriously, it's New Year's Eve. What kind of soulless bitch keeps a guy in on the best party night of the year? This is no better than being locked up in the city. At least in the clink I didn't have to cook my own damn food."

Cho, seated on the floor, was carefully painting a thick white line along the place where the wall met the floorboards. "If you'd like to go back to prison, be my guest," she murmured. "We can arrange that."

"Uh, no, we can't." Adachi shook his head. "What about Nanako-chan? Did you forget why we're doing this in the first place?"

"Wishful thinking," sighed Cho. "It doesn't hurt to have dreams."

Adachi scowled at her. "Speak for yourself. Sure never got me anywhere. You know, I could have had a date tonight? The girl who works at the bookstore was definitely giving me the eye. Not what I'd call a knockout, but she's got a nice pair of-!"

"That's enough." Cho put her paintbrush down and raised a weary eyebrow at him. "If you can't be respectful, then at least be quiet. I'm trying to concentrate."

For a moment, Adachi actually was quiet, maybe stunned into silence by Cho's raised voice. "Haven't had a date in ten fucking years," he muttered eventually. "You…you are the physical embodiment of evil, you cock-blocking hellbitch."

Cho frowned at the uneven coat of paint. "If you say so," she mumbled absently.

Adachi seethed. He seethed so aggressively that Cho could hear his teeth grinding in the back of his head. She picked up her paintbrush again and addressed the uneven paint coat issue. For several minutes, neither of them said anything at all.

"Guess I shouldn't complain," muttered Adachi viciously, eyeing the back of Cho's head. "How long has it been since you've had a date?"

Cho stopped painting. She took a deep breath.

"Let me guess." She could hear the malicious little smile in Adachi's voice, now. "Uh…a long time, right?"

"I usually work on New Year's Eve," Cho told him. "There are a lot of drunk drivers out on nights like this. I was happy to volunteer."

"But I kinda feel like you wouldn't have been so eager to volunteer if you'd had a date, am I right?" It didn't seem as though Adachi was going to let this one go. "Anyway, I didn't ask about New Year's. I asked 'when was the last time you had a date.' Like, any time. Any time of the year. Come on. It'll cheer me up if your dry spell's been longer than mine."

_I am not having this conversation, _thought Cho.

"Two years? Three years?"persisted Adachi. "Or were you and that Togoshi guy actually hooking up and you just didn't want to tell his wife about it? Yeah, that sounds more like-!"

"I don't date," snapped Cho, getting abruptly to her feet and glaring at Adachi. _I will not rise to his bait, _she told herself, but she was still seeing red.

Adachi's eyes widened in genuine surprise. "Wh-whoa, wait, really? You mean, like, you don't date at all? Man…does that mean that you're a-?"

Cho gave him a look that would have melted solid rock. It was a look that seemed to make even Adachi's nerves falter. He opened his mouth, closed it again, scoffed, and then gave her another unpleasant little grin.

_I am going to kill this man, _Cho decided. _I'm sorry, Dojima-san, Nanako-chan. I am truly, honestly sorry, but it can't be helped. This man has to die. I hope that someday you will forgive me. _

"Huh," Adachi seemed to have bounced back already, apparently totally unaware of how close he had brought Cho to the brink of homicide. "Well, I guess I can't be too surprised. I mean, it's not like you dress up or go out or anything. You should, try, uh, makeup, maybe. Lots of ugly girls can look pretty decent when they put some effort into it. Not that your attitude's likely to get you very far. Hey, don't feel too bad, though. There are some guys out there that really like getting pushed around by a bitch. Not my thing, really, but that doesn't mean you're shit out of luck. And hey most guys will put up with anything for a good fuck. Not that you'd know anything about that, I guess."

Cho was waiting for her anger to subside. _I will not be baited, _she reminded herself. _There is no reason to let him get under my skin. He's angry, he's lashing out, and he's trying to wound me like a child who's been deprived a toy he wanted. He will not be allowed to toy with me. I don't have to let him get to me at all. _

"During our investigation of the recent murders," she began, sitting carefully back down next to her paint can and averting her eyes, "I had the chance to speak with a few of your ex-girlfriends. According to them, you don't know much about what you would call 'a good fuck' either."

"What the-?" Adachi's mouth dropped open, and his eyes narrowed as he stood staring at her in angry surprise. Cho was proud of herself for having scored a point, and then ashamed of herself for having let Adachi draw her in to his little game.

"I'm almost done here," she said. "Please bring me the ladder so that I can touch up the top corners."

Adachi stared at the wall. He shook his head, looking a bit more deflated then had a moment ago. "Yeah, fine," he muttered, walking over to retrieve the ladder. "Not like I have anything better to do…or that you'll let me do. Jeez."

He wheeled the ladder over to her.

"Thank you," murmured Cho.

Adachi frowned. "Everything's so white. It's like a damn hospital in here. What's next, a white picket fence out front?"

Cho opened her mouth to respond to that, but Adachi didn't give her the chance.

"Or maybe we're gonna get curtains, next?" He was sneering sarcastically at her, now. "You've already got your damn tomato plant out there. Maybe you haven't figured it out yet, but no matter how many little homey touches you add to this dump, it'll always be a prison. You're stuck here. I'm stuck here. You can paint and furnish the shit out of the place, but it'll never be a home. What a shame. All your hard work for nothing."

_I know that, _thought Cho. For some reason, the thought didn't make her as sad as maybe it might have done a couple of weeks ago. The word "home" conjured up images in her mind of Kiyoko Togoshi's kitchen, with heart shaped magnets and children's drawings all over the refrigerator and Juro's socks hidden behind the recently moved sofa. "Homes" contained people that you wanted to see at the end of a long work day. When you came "home" you felt comfortable around the kitchen table, in a place where you knew that could share your worries or just sit quietly and eat your dinner while feeling safe, secure, and undaunted by how scary the outside world became with every passing birthday.

_But right now, _she told herself, _I don't need a home. I'm doing things with purpose. I have a goal. For now, that's enough. Nothing else needs to matter right now. _

"Hey, "demanded Adachi, "are you even listening? Are you just tuning me out? You've got this dumbass look on your face…"

Cho's phone alarm began beeping insistently, and she glanced down at it to check the time.

"It's midnight," she informed Adachi.

He sighed. "Oh, yeah? Great. Happy fucking New Year, or something."

"Happy New Year," murmured Cho. She hugged herself absently with both arms, shivering a little in slightly chilly living room. She was imagining the last New Year's she'd spent around the fireplace in the Togoshi home, drinking sparkling non-alcoholic cider while Kenji Togoshi yawned and struggled to stay awake.

"Should old acquaintance be forgot," she sang tunelessly under her breath, "and never called to mind…we'll drink a cup of kindness yet to old lang syne…"

Adachi snorted. "Should old acquaintance be forgot? Heh. Yeah, that's funny because-!"

"Shut up," whispered Cho.

"…yeah." For a second, Adachi looked distracted, too. "Yeah, you're right. Forget it."


	5. Four: Bliss

**Author's Note: **This is the last little story/drabble in this collection. After I've posted this story, I'll close this collection and I'll prepare to start working on the first chapter of the sequel.

Thanks for reading, everyone! Let's have a wonderful new year!

**Five: Bliss**

At five AM on the morning of New Year's Day, the Dojima residence was a mess.

Yu frowned to himself as he picked up a paper noisemaker from the middle of the carpet. _This is becoming kind of a habit, _he realized. _We were all here together to celebrate Christmas, and then only a few days later we all came back to celebrate New Year's Eve. It's not that I don't like having all of my friends come to visit me, but I wonder if it has occurred to any of them that we might be able to celebrate at someone else's house? Yukiko's home is much bigger than mine and Yosuke has a much bigger basement…_

He stepped and then almost slipped on a patch of floor that was inexplicably wet, and sighed. Behind him, there were heavy footsteps on the stairs, and he turned to see Dojima stumble into the living room.

"Good morni-!" he began, but then fell suddenly silent as Margaret, looking very slightly less kempt than usual, appeared behind Dojima.

"Uh," muttered Yu uncomfortably.

"Oh." Margaret gave him a hesitant sort of smile. "Good morning."

Yu sucked in a breath. _I am never, ever going to get used to this, _he decided. _I mean, she isn't even exactly human. Is this really okay? _

"Jeez," muttered Dojima, biting his lip as he gazed back and forth unsteadily between Yu and Margaret. "Look, um…" He gave Yu a half-guilty, sheepish kind of look, and for a moment Yu felt as though he were the adult chaperone and as though his uncle was the giddy schoolboy.

"I must be going," murmured Margaret. Somewhat to Yu's alarm, she reached up and planted a kiss on Dojima's cheek. Dojima opened his mouth, closed it, turned pink, and then mumbled something that sounded like "Right. Um. Have a good…day. Yeah. Uh."

"Happy New Year, Miss Matsumoto," Yu told Margaret politely.

He was almost positive that Margaret winked at him as she replied, "Oh, please. Call me Margaret."

After Dojima had seen Margaret out and the door had closed behind her, he watched her through the window for a moment as her heels clicked down the street. Then he slid into a chair at the table, and Yu took the one across from him. Dojima's eyes were very slightly unfocused.

"Sorry about that," he muttered. "I probably should have…"

"It's fine." Yu held up a hand to forestall him, mostly because he couldn't imagine how he was going to have this conversation, and didn't want to try. "It's your house. You don't have to apologize."

Dojima looked relieved. "Yeah. Thanks." He rubbed unhappily at his left temple, grimacing.

"You look tired," remarked Yu.

"Hung over," Dojima corrected him. "You're not a kid anymore. No reason to hide it from you. We were all having a good time last night, I guess. Had too much to drink, and I'm feeling it now. Good thing it's a holiday…"

Yu nodded. "At least you had a good time. Happy New Year, uncle."

"Happy New Year," agreed Dojima, doing his best to give Yu a smile. "Let's…make this one a good year. I feel like maybe I'm ready for a good year. I haven't had one of those in a long time. Neither has Nanako. I'd like to see her smile a little more."

"It will be a good year," agreed Yu. "We'll all do our best."

Dojima nodded. "She used to smile all the time ten years ago, the last time you lived here. I said it when you first moved in, and I still believe it now. Maybe this is our chance to really turn over a new leaf. Maybe we're all gonna be happier, now. You…you kinda have that effect on people. Everything just makes more sense when you're around."

It was a compliment, of course, and Yu wanted to thank his uncle for it. The words got stuck in his throat as he watched the uncharacteristically peaceful look on Dojima's face.

_You can't be serious, _he thought. _Ever since I got here, I've done nothing but turn your life upside down. Without me, your daughter would never have entered the TV world. Her persona would never have awakened, and she'd never have been murdered by the soul of your worst enemy. If I'd never come back here, maybe Adachi would be back in prison by now. My powers and their connection to this town have brought you nothing but pain, frustration, confusion, and grief. _

"It's a nice day out today," Dojima was saying. "Don't know why I'm getting all sentimental all of a sudden. Kind of embarrassing. Maybe it's the weather."

_It may have something to do with your new girlfriend, _reflected Yu. _She, by the way, is a non-human, otherworldly figment of the inner workings of my mind. _

"I don't know," mused Dojima. "Whatever it s, I'm just feeling better today. The murders are over, and we caught the guy…uh, or the lady who was responsible. Yanase's got her own place, now, and looks like they're gonna let her complete the Inaba transfer. Gotta admit I'm happy about that. It'll be nice to have a partner, again. You've got a good job in town, and a good wife who cares about you. My daughter's growing up…and she's growing up strong. Maybe it's okay to feel good about that. Maybe the worst of it all really is over. Maybe I can finally relax. I'd like to relax. I've been so damn tired…"

By this time Dojima was talking more to himself than to Yu, staring out the window again and mumbling absently with two fingers still pressed to his forehead. Yu could feel a lump rising in his throat as he suddenly realized just how old Dojima had begun to look. The man was only in his early fifties, and had a great deal of life ahead of him, but some of what he'd faced so far had apparently taken its toll. The smile on his face was a relieved, exhausted sort of smile.

_He's the father I wish I'd had, _thought Yu. _More than anyone, he's the man I'd like to grow into. I'd like to give him that little bit of peace that he wants. _

There were a hundred things wrong with Yu's world, still. Adachi had been given a pardon that he probably didn't deserve. At any minute, the man could be corrupted again by his power or by anyone who knew the best and most malicious way to use that power and the man who wielded it. Nanako was forever welded to a criminal, and couldn't ever be whole again without him. Much as Yu wanted to believe that the worst really was over, he couldn't let himself relax. He struggled to sleep at night, thinking of all the things that could possibly blow up in his face at any moment.

_Maybe that's it, _he realized. _Maybe of all of us, he really did make the right choice. Maybe ignorance is bliss…a bliss I'll never have. Uncle Dojima deserves it, if any of us do. _

"Well, it is a holiday," said Dojima. "Guess I could just go back to bed if I wanted to."

Yu clapped a hand to his uncle's shoulder, feeling uncertain and unexpectedly emotional . "Yeah," he agreed. "You should do that. You earned the rest. Go back to sleep. When Chie wakes up, she and I will watch the house."

"Thanks," sighed Dojima gratefully. "Just another hour or so, then."

As Dojima made his way back up the stairs, Yu stared unhappily at his own hands and wondered about the future.


End file.
